


The heavenly bodies

by butterfreeism



Series: Finally, Zukka [2]
Category: Avatar (TV), Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Break Up, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post-Series, Pre-Slash, Rating for Chapter 2, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-01-07 03:39:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12224994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterfreeism/pseuds/butterfreeism
Summary: The war is over, and the Gaang is starting to rebuild the world. But as the heavenly bodies pass overhead, something else is building between Zuko and Sokka.Part 2 of the "Finally, Zukka" series. Chapter 1 takes place just as the ATLA finale wraps up, with Chapters 2 and 3 following from there.This work is a canon divergence AU because it doesn't follow the canon of the post-series comics. But, it's tagged as Canon Compliant because it's still compliant with the canon of both ATLA and TLoK.





	1. Sunset

“Your painting isn’t that bad,” Zuko said, smiling in his typical, not-quite-comfortable way.

Sokka looked up at him, surprised that he was still standing behind him. The others had all gone back to their own spots in the dining room of the Jasmine Dragon — except Katara, who he thought he’d seen walk out the front doors to find Aang. Zuko, however, still stood awkwardly by the corner of his table.

Sokka smiled up at the teen who was now the Fire Lord. He couldn’t help but find Zuko’s continued awkwardness entertaining and, in a way, endearing. It was nice to know that, even with the golden flame crown and actual flame throne, he was still the same Zuko who had become one of his best friends. Sokka had worried that Team Avatar would fall apart after they defeated Ozai — with Zuko being the first one to go off and start his new life. But in the few weeks since his coronation, with the duties of Fire Lord settling on his shoulders, Zuko had still chosen to stay with the rest of the Gaang as much as possible. Sokka felt grateful to Zuko for that. “Thanks, Zuko,” Sokka replied, thinking both of his compliment and his friendship.

Zuko’s smile broadened into a proper one, and he turned and walked back towards the kitchen. As Sokka savored the fact that he had managed to get Zuko’s full smile to come out, he finished the last dregs of tea in his cup. As he lowered the cup back to the table, he noticed Suki out of the corner of his eye. She was leaning up against one of the ornate, round windows at the front of the tea house. He couldn’t quite make out her face from his angle, but from what he could see, she seemed vaguely unhappy. _Again_ , Sokka reminded himself.

He got up from his table to walk towards her. She had been seeming more and more unhappy in recent days, and he was a bit worried about her. Making matters worse, since Zuko’s coronation, he had felt a strange distance growing between them. With each day, he had felt further and further from her. He wasn’t sure what had caused the distance, but he was sure it wasn’t good for their relationship. “Suki, what are you looking at?” he called to her.

“Something…beautiful,” she replied, though Sokka heard a sour note in her voice. He came up to the window and stood next to Suki. Given her response, he expected to look out and see something touching, but sad. Instead, he could see his sister standing with Aang and…

“AANG AND KATARA ARE KISSING?!” he shouted, excitedly. Behind him, he could hear a clamor of activity as the others rushed to either the other window or the doorway. Toph started cheering in delight, Momo started chittering animatedly, and Iroh started chuckling so loudly that the faint noises of disgust coming from Mai were almost entirely drowned out. Over the din, Sokka said, “I feel like I’m supposed to be upset by this, but I’m actually just surprised.”

“You’re _surprised_ by this?” exclaimed Toph, throwing her arms out in the direction of Aang and Katara. “I saw this coming, and I can’t even see!”

“I’m surprised it’s happening _already_ ,” he shot back. “Of course I saw it coming. They have been dancing around it since…” He could tell she had stopped listening and decided to give up there.

“Perhaps we should give our lovebirds a little privacy,” Iroh told the group, still chuckling. “Besides, a hot cup of tea should not be ignored for too long.”

After a short time, the others slowly started to go back to what they had been doing before Sokka’s shouting. Only he and Suki remained at the window.

“Sokka, we need to talk,” Suki sighed.

 

* * *

 

Sokka’s head whipped around. “That doesn’t sound good,” he said, quietly, so that the others couldn’t hear. “Is something wrong?”

Suki turned to face him fully, and Sokka could see tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. _Something is definitely wrong_ , Sokka thought. _Very, very wrong_. _More wrong than whatever has been going on with her recently. Did I accidentally do something to her?_ “Something is wrong,” Sokka said. “What is it?”

Suki opened her mouth to reply when the sound of applause filled the room. Startled, Sokka spun around to see Katara and Aang entering the tea house holding hands. The rest of the group had made their way to the doorway to greet them. Sokka nearly followed, but another sigh from Suki stopped him in his tracks.

“This isn't a good place to talk. Let’s go outside?” Suki asked. Sokka hesitated a moment, then nodded. While the others were distracted by the new couple, Suki slipped out the front door with Sokka in tow. Sokka caught up to Suki as they descended the steps into the courtyard, and they walked together, silently, to the railing at the edge. Without meaning to, they stopped where Aang and Katara had stood only minutes before.

Sokka looked at Suki. She looked out over the roofs of the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se, the golden sunset light casting soft shadows across the half of her face that Sokka could see. All the same, he could see glistening tears slowly sliding down her cheek. A minute passed in silence. As Sokka opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong again, Suki sighed.

“Sokka…it’s over.”

A beat. “You mean us?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do.”

Now it was Sokka’s turn to sigh. His head drooped forward, his eyes focusing on anything but Suki. He could feel his heart breaking in his chest, his sadness almost as constricting as the fissure he had fallen into when hunting the saber-tooth moose lion cub. But even as his sadness consumed him, he felt a sliver of relief. _So that’s what’s been causing the distance between us_ , he thought. _She’s been pulling away._ Unfortunately, the slight relief at knowing this didn’t do much to dull his pain.

After a long moment, Suki continued. “I’m sorry, Sokka. I’m glad for the time we’ve had together, and I really wish we could have had more time, but…” She paused, gathering herself, and finally turned to look at Sokka directly.

Despite the pain, he instinctively looked up at her, and for a moment, he was confused. Their breakup seemed to be hitting Suki harder than it was hitting him. Tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks, and, behind the look of resolve she had on her face, he could see deep pain in her eyes. _And_ she’s _the one dumping me!_ came a voice in his head. “But?” Sokka said after a moment, trying to keep his own pain out of his voice as much as possible. He succeeded only in sounding defeated.

“But…” she started, sighing. “But I don’t see a future for us. While we were together, we fought to help the Avatar change the world. We were good at fighting together.” At that, a whisper of a smile crossed her face. It lingered there only for a moment before her mask of strength and resolve slid back into place. “And because we were, we actually did it. We changed the world, and the future is bright now. Our futures are bright now. But I don’t think there’s room for me in your future. And there probably won’t be room for you in my future either. I mean, once things have settled down again, I’m going to go back home to Kyoshi Island. That’s where my future is. I won’t be happy staying away.”

Sokka wanted to jump in and tell her she was wrong. He wanted to tell her that there would always be room for her in his life, and that he could be happy in Kyoshi, too. But as he tried to string the words together, they felt hollow. _Maybe she’s right_ , he thought. He hadn’t considered it before now, but he didn’t know what his future held. He knew that, for the time being, he’d go with Aang, Katara, Toph, and Zuko to help put the world back together. But after they had, what then? _Zuko will go be the Fire Lord, Aang and Katara will probably go off and have a bunch of kids or something, and Toph will probably do something impressive with her metalbending_ , Sokka thought, his gaze drifting to the sunset now starting to disappear behind the walls of the Upper Ring. _What will I do?_

The sound of Suki sniffling startled him out of his introspection. He looked back at her and saw that, even as her tears were slowing, she was still hurting, too. By instinct, he reached out to comfort her. _At least I can help her feel better_ , he thought. _And maybe that will help me feel better, too._ He pulled her close, and she laid her head on his shoulder. They stayed that way for a long time.

Slowly, the sunlight behind them was dying away. Suki finally looked up, kissed Sokka on the cheek, and pulled herself away. As their arms separated, she sniffled and whispered, “Goodbye Sokka.”

“Goodbye, Suki,” he whispered back as she turned and walked back towards the Avatar house. Sokka stood there for a moment watching her go before sitting on the railing they had stood by. He sat, his eyes downcast, his hands clasped in front of him, lost in the flood of emotions moving through him. Behind him, the last edges of the sun set behind the wall.

 

* * *

 

Across the courtyard, Zuko stood in the doorway of the Jasmine Dragon. After congratulating the happy couple, he had gone to the door to catch a glimpse of the setting sun before putting on another pot of tea. Instead, he caught a glimpse of what even he could tell was a painful, private moment between Sokka and Suki. He froze, and despite wanting to turn around, he couldn’t take his eyes away. After a minute or so, he saw Suki kiss Sokka on the cheek, say something to him that looked like a goodbye, and walk away. He watched as Sokka’s head followed her for a little while, then turn down towards the ground. _He looks really sad_ , Zuko thought as he saw Sokka take a seat on the railing. _I should…bring him tea? I think that’s what Uncle would do now._

Zuko heard a crash from behind him and his uncle’s voice calling out to him. He was too focused on Sokka to hear much of what his uncle said, catching only the words “Momo,” “tsungi horn,” and “quite a bit of tea has spilled.” He decided that he needed to help his uncle clean up whatever mess had happened, but he let his eyes linger on Sokka as he turned away. As he did, he made another decision: _Once this mess is taken care of, I’m going to make him feel better_ , he thought, nodding to himself.


	2. Starlight

Sokka rounded the corner, and the Avatar house came into view. He had spent the last few hours walking around the Upper Ring in an attempt to find something to take his mind of Suki. However, his search had been in vain: By the time he got to them, all of the shops and meat-houses that he knew of in the Upper Ring had closed. Even the doors of the Five-Seven-Five Society were closed. _I probably wouldn’t have been let back in there anyway_ , he thought to himself, too worn out to even try turning it into a haiku.

In the end, the wandering had done him good. Not having any distractions, despite seeking them out, had given him some time to start processing what had happened that evening. Suki’s words had cut him to the quick, but they had also made him think. Somewhere between flashbacks of their time together, he had started to picture what the future would look like for him. So though he was still hurting by the time he approached the Avatar house, he felt like he had started to move on.

As he approached the steps leading up to the house, he turned his thoughts to what he had to figure out next. _If the others are still awake, they’ll probably have heard by now, so they might ask me about it_ , he reasoned, starting up the steps. _If the others are asleep, I can probably sneak quietly into the room and…”_ AAHH!”

Sokka tripped suddenly and fell forward onto the porch of the Avatar house, landing directly on the thing he tripped on. He heard an “Oomph!”, though it took him a moment to realize that it hadn’t come from him. When he opened his eyes and saw a pair of startled, golden ones looking back at him, he realized he had tripped (and then fallen) on Zuko.

They both started talking at once:

“Sokka!” “Zuko!”

“Are you alright?” “Are you alright?”

“Why are you on top of me?” “What are you doing out here?”

Before either of them could open their mouths again, Sokka reached up and clamped his hand over Zuko’s mouth. “Let’s take turns talking,” he said. Zuko nodded, and Sokka pulled his hand away. As he did so, he saw Zuko’s expression soften. Zuko’s shocked gape had turned into the most natural smile Sokka had ever seen him make. The smile itself was somewhat small, close to the size of a smirk, but the emotion behind it stretched to Zuko’s eyes.

Sokka suddenly became very conscious of the fact that he was lying on Zuko. He started to get that familiar, warm feeling in his groin, and he knew that if he stayed in that position much longer, he’d have a raging boner.

Unhelpfully, his mind flashed back to a dream he’d had while they were still staying at the Western Air Temple. It had happened the night that Zuko and Aang returned from the city of the Sun Warriors. He’d dreamt of him and Zuko in about the same position, but both completely nude. His hard cock had been pressed firmly against the rim of Zuko’s hole, and Zuko had been begging for Sokka to fuck him. Even though Sokka had awoken to wet underwear the next morning, he’d somehow forgotten about the dream until that moment.

Sokka scrambled off Zuko as quick as he could. “Sorry!” he said as he landed hard on the porch at Zuko’s side. He couldn’t tell if he had bruised anything, apart from his ego, but he had at least managed to keep Zuko from feeling him get hard. _That was almost a disaster_ , Sokka thought.

“It’s alright,” Zuko responded, with a slight catch on his voice. Sokka couldn’t tell whether the catch was from pain or laughter. Knowing Zuko, he wasn’t leaning towards laughter.

“Are you sure?” he said, maneuvering himself into a sitting position while trying to keep his groin hidden. “It sounds like I knocked the wind out of you.”

“You did,” replied Zuko. “You’re not exactly light.” A beat. Sokka thought he saw Zuko’s good eye widen. “Not that you’re fat!” he continued quickly, sitting up to face Sokka. “I don’t think you’re…You look good…I mean fine…But you still have…weight…”

As usual, Sokka couldn’t help but smile at Zuko’s awkwardness. He couldn’t tell if it was because of his lingering erection, but in that moment, he thought Zuko was incredibly cute. His endearing stammering played a part, but even after being the cushion for Sokka’s fall, Zuko still managed to look good. The starlight had given Zuko’s face a soft, indigo glow that flattered even his scar. And even in the dimness, his eyes shone like gold in firelight. _Let’s not go there_ , Sokka told himself. _You’re just trying to rebound from Suki. And even if you weren’t, pining after straight guys doesn’t end well._ Despite trying to talk himself out of what he had felt, he noticed Zuko had started smiling back at him again. A moment passed as they smiled at each other.

“So,” started Sokka, clearing his throat. “What are you doing sleeping out here?”

”I was waiting for you.”

“Really?” replied Sokka, his dick jumping slightly. He chastised it internally. _He didn’t mean it like that, silly thing. This isn’t one of those bawdy stories that the warriors tell around the campfire._ He asked Zuko, “Why would you do that?”

“Because I thought you’d be sad,” answered Zuko. “Earlier, I saw you and Suki, and it looked like it wasn’t good.”

“Oh,” he responded, his erection rapidly falling. _That’s embarrassing_. He hadn’t thought about whether anyone else had seen their breakup. After a moment, he asked “Did all of you see?”

“I don’t think so. The others were still talking to Aang and Katara. They only noticed that you were gone when we started closing up the shop.”

“Good,” Sokka sighed, dropping his head. “That would have been more embarrassing.”

An awkward moment came and went in silence. Then, he heard Zuko say, almost in a whisper, “I’m sorry.”

Sokka looked up and saw Zuko do so as well. Taken aback slightly, he asked, “For what?”

“For embarrassing you…and for whatever it was that happened with you and Suki.”

He could feel the smile coming back to his lips, if only wanly. “Thank you,” he said. “That means a lot.”

Zuko had started smiling again too. “I’m glad. It…seemed like the right thing to say. I’m still learning how to be a good friend.”

Sokka was touched. “You’re doing a pretty good job so far,” he assured him. “And I’m sorry too. For falling on you, I mean. I honestly didn’t see you at all. I’ve been distracted tonight.”

“You’ve had a distracting evening.”

He could tell that Zuko was trying for a reassuring tone, but it came out more as more matter-of-fact. He appreciated the attempt nonetheless. “Thanks,” Sokka replied. “Tonight definitely didn’t go the way I wanted it to.”

He saw Zuko nod slightly in acknowledgement. “How did you want it to go?”

Sokka hadn’t thought about his last response before speaking, but now he took a moment to consider what he had wanted from that evening. “I…I guess I don’t know. I did want to talk to Suki and figure out what was bothering her. She’s been pretty unhappy lately, and I wanted to see if I could help her. Or figure out what was wrong, at least. I was worried that I had done something to upset her, or that there was something that had happened since your coronation. Like maybe in the few days it took Katara to heal my leg, or when she was with the other Kyoshi Warriors preparing for the return of the Earth King. But I think she was just trying to pull away. And tonight she finally did.”

A moment passed. “That’s rough, buddy,” Zuko finally said.

Sokka had a flashback to the hot air balloon they used to get to the Boiling Rock. Then, Zuko had started opening up to him about his family, and he had felt like their friendship really started. After spending so long as enemies, and after the previous days together had shown just how reserved Zuko could be, he had been a little proud that Zuko felt comfortable enough with him to talk about his inner thoughts. As strange and tense as it had been, their entire experience at the Boiling Rock brought them closer together. He was glad that, with all that this war had taken from him, it had at least brought Zuko into his life.

Suddenly, he wondered if he should have asked if Zuko were comfortable hearing his. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on so much,” he said.

“Don’t be,” Zuko replied, actually succeeding at sounding reassuring this time. “You probably want to talk things out. If you want, I can listen.” He reached out his hand and put it on Sokka’s knee.

Sokka’s heart melted at Zuko’s touch, the heat of his hand spreading across his body like the warmth of bath water. At the same time, a different kind of heat was starting again in his lap. _Not again_ , he moaned. _Zuko is my friend, he’s straight, and he’s the fucking Fire Lord now…_

In an instant, Sokka remembered why they had all come to Ba Sing Se in the first place. “Are you sure? Don’t you and Aang and my dad need to meet with the Earth King tomorrow morning to officially end the war?”

From the way Zuko smiled, Sokka got the impression that he had thought of this already. _Always thinking ahead_ , he thought, almost chuckling.

Zuko took a moment, then answered. “Yes, I do. But this is just the first part of it all. And the easiest part. After that, we’ll need to negotiate about the Fire Nation Colonies and rebuilding the world. We still need the Chief Arnook from the Northern Water Tribe for that part.” A beat, then Zuko continued. “Besides, I’m a firebender. I rise with the sun. So I can stay up to listen to you and still be awake in time.”

Sokka felt himself blush, especially after he looked down and noticed that Zuko’s hand had been on his knee the whole time. “Well, then thank you, Zuko,” he replied after a moment, laying his own hand on top of Zuko’s. Their eyes met, and Sokka felt happy for the first time in hours.

He talked to Zuko until the wee hours of the morning. Zuko turned out to be just the listener he needed, nodding along or offering small signs of support as he spoke. Something about being with Sokka alone seemed to make him less awkward—and make Sokka less heartbroken.

At some point, they had moved from sitting face-to-face to sitting side-by-side. Without Sokka noticing, his arm had found its way to Zuko’s shoulder, holding him as he lay on Sokka’s own. It took a small snore escaping Zuko’s lips for Sokka to realize he had fallen asleep in his arms. Yawning himself, he pulled Zuko closer and smiled. He rested his head on Zuko’s, slowly falling asleep as he gazed up at the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keep an eye out for Chapter 3, "Moonrise" — coming soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Like what you read? Check out Part 1 (the prologue to this work), "Gossip and longing"!
> 
> Thanks again to my partner for proofreading and suggestions. <3


End file.
